Ladakh from Manali – Most Common Itinerary

Nowadays a lot and a lot of travelers are preferring to travel to Ladakh from Manali side and most of them say that “it is more beautiful” 🙂 🙂 … Well, others also have the reasons like lack of leaves or some have security concerns while traveling from Srinagar – Kashmir side.

In this article today, I will like to suggest a very balanced and a common itinerary for the travelers looking forward to traveling to Ladakh from Manali side. In the latter part of the article, I will also suggest some alterations to this common itinerary for Manali to Ladakh.

You will be able to understand the changes if you are in the second category of people who do not wish to travel back from Srinagar – Kashmir side at all, then what options you have to tweak this plan and make it work to come back from Ladakh from Manali side only.

Leh Ladakh from Manali in 15 Days – Itinerary & Other Details

We already have a most common itinerary of Leh Ladakh which covers the entire Ladakh circuit from Srinagar to Ladakh to Manali. And in this article, the below itinerary for Ladakh from Manali side, covers all three major tourist destinations of Ladakh including Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso Lake, and Tso Moriri Lake.

The itinerary also covers Srinagar – Leh Highway as well as Manali – Leh Highway, so it is apt for those who are looking forward to covering the entire circuit from Manali to Ladakh to Srinagar.

A word of caution about Manali to Leh

Please note that since your body will not be acclimatized well enough to travel on Manali – Leh Highway, there are chances of getting hit with Acute Mountain Sickness (more info on AMS) and especially on the second day you may feel it.

Most of the terrain on Manali – Leh Highway runs over 4000 Mtrs of altitude and by the time you reach such altitude your body is not properly acclimatized. Hence, many people fall sick on Manali Leh Highway despite covering in 25:75 ratio (Manali – Jispa/Keylong, Jispa/Keylong – Leh) in terms of distance.

The other issue is Rohtang Pass permits fiasco !! When you travel from Manali to Rohtang Pass, you will need permits to travel beyond Rohtang Pass. But, you do not need permits if you are traveling from the other side of Rohtang Pass to Manali (that is from Leh, Lahaul or Spiti).

If you are OK with these limitations, you can follow this travel plan for Ladakh from Manali side mentioned below.

Suraj Tal, as seen while traveling to Ladakh from Manali

Day 1 | Delhi – Manali/Solang Valley

Better stay at Solang Valley and avoid Manali as sleeping at Solang Valley does help in acclimatization

If going by own car, get the permit made in advance to drive on Manali – Rohtang Pass road

Day 7 | Leh – Chang La – Pangong Tso – Chang La – Leh

Make a Day trip to Pangong Tso via Chang La Pass.

Overnight at Leh.

About 8-9 Hrs drive, depending upon the breaks you take in between.

Additional Points for Manali to Ladakh Trip

You can also make a three day trip to Nubra Valley so that you can spend one night a beautiful village Turtuk and remove rest day at 9 or add one day to above plan to visit Tutruk. I bet, you will not regret at all visiting Turtuk in Nubra Valley.

Why should you travel to Ladakh from Manali?

For many travelers, there are reasons to travel to Leh Ladakh from Manali side only. Previously, I have already shared the reasons to travel to Ladakh from Srinagar. However, many travelers also ask me about the reasons to travel from Manali to Leh Ladakh. Let us look at them one by one.

1. The shortest route to travel to Leh by road

The route from Delhi to Manali to Leh is considered to be shortest route by road to reach Leh. Srinagar route is about 300+ km longer and takes an extra day to travel.

2. Saves one day in overall Ladakh plan

It takes four days to reach Leh from Srinagar side while you save one day when you travel to Leh from Manali side with overnight halts at Manali / Solang and Keylong / Jispa only. Thus, you save two days in case you travel from Manali to Leh in both direction.

3. Offers more adventure than Srinagar route

For the likes of adventure seekers, the journey over Manali Leh road offer much more adventure than Srinagar Leh Highway where you will find habitation almost about every 60 km.

4. Experience beauty of Manali Leh road in entirety

If you travel to Leh and come back from Leh via Manali only, you get a chance to see the same views from either direction. Hence, you can experience its beauty in entirety.

5. Well connected by HRTC & HPTDC buses

Unlike Srinagar Leh, you will find plenty of bus services option from Manali to Leh. Both HPTDC and HRTC run buses over Manali Leh Highway. There is in fact a tourist bus from HPTDC that runs doing all the sightseeing from Manali to Leh. It is one of most prefered commute options to travel to Leh Ladakh from Manali. Then, HRTC offers a direct bus service from Delhi to Leh which covers the 1050 km journey in 2 days.

6. Avoids hassles of bandhs/strikes in Kashmir

A lot of people are concerned about the security and safety issues when traveling to Leh Ladakh by Srinagar or Kashmir side. Bandhs, Protests, and strikes happen in Kashmir which mostly is predeclared and does not affect the tourist areas, still, some people avoid to travel Kashmir and make a trip from Manali to Ladakh only.

The roads when you travel Ladakh from Manali and come from Srinagar side

Conclusion

I hope this plan or itinerary for Leh Ladakh from Manali side will be useful for travelers planning their journey at least for the first time. I will look forward to any questions or doubts you may have in the comments section of this article below.

Have a travel question?? You can follow me on Instagram and ask your travel questions in a direct message on Instagram too. I also conduct a weekly Q&A session every Saturday evening on Instagram, so see you there.

You can share your valuable suggestions and inputs you have or if would love to discuss your custom plan as well in the comments section as well. If you want any customization or deviation from above plan, feel free to ask any questions and in case you know a friend who is interested to travel Ladakh from Manali in such a plan, feel free to share the article with them.

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Comments section gets closed in 90 days. You can follow me on Instagram and ask your travel questions in a direct message on Instagram too. I also conduct a weekly Q&A session every Saturday evening on Instagram, so see you there !!

Effective 2018 you need permit for all circuits in Leh except main highways Manali-Leh or Srinagar-Leh or Kargil-Zanskar. All should know this for planning. Though you can apply for permits online but payment has to be made physically in Leh only.

Wow, very detailed stuff. I am planning to visit Leh Ladakh on Bike but i never visited there yet so was afraid about the changing weather conditions. You have shared very detailed information. No need to search anything other.

Thank you for all the valuable information that you provide us!
I am travelling to Leh starting from Manali on bike for the first time.
From your Earlier post, I understand that we should not stay at Sarchu as I our body will not be acclimatized by then.
How is the condition of road between Jispa and Leh?
Can I cover the entire stretch from Jispa to Leh in a day, considering if I leave at 5AM and keeping in mind the the current road condition?

Hey Dheeraj,
Your blog is of great help. My 70% of questions were cleared going though various topics.
There are still some left,
1) We are planning to go to ladkh June end so you think weather will be decent enough then ?or should I postponed or prepone it.
2) we don’t have our own bikes, was thinking if we can take bike from Srinagar and drop it at Manali. Does that make sense or travelling to and fro Manali will be better ?
3)Also I read in one of the blog that Manali they have dealers who had pre signed with Leh rental association. Do you know any such dealer?

1. Weather is fine in June end for a Ladakh trip and roads are stabilized too from initial avalanches/snow slides.
2. Outside rented bikes are not allowed for sightseeing in Ladakh. So, you pay twice for outside rented bike. Then, for a drop of single bike it cost around 10-15K per bike
3. I don’t know such a dealer.

Thanks Dheeraj for such quick response.
My friends were keen to go ladkh via bike. But reading various posts I think it makes more sense to go in ladkh and hire bike. Rather than hiring from Manali given high chance of mountain sickness. Also taking bike from Srinagar, and then coming back to Manali will cost a good 10-12 k extra. So best will be to go and hire bike from ladkh?

Day 1 Delhi to Manali June 4
Day 2 Manali to jispa June 5
Day 3 jispa to pangong June 6
Day 4 relax whole day at pangong June 7
Day 5 pangong to serchu June 8
Day 6 sarchu to Solang velly June 9
Day 7 Solang to Delhi. June 10

Please postpone it by at least a week so that Manali – Leh Highway will be open. Also, as you have already done the high altitude regions, you understand that above plan is a welcome to being hospitalised. Also, you need permits now again from this year, so you cant make it that ways.

I alongwith my 3 friends planning a trip from delhi to ladakh via manali and return from same route starting from 10 june 2017 and will end on 21 june 2017. We are planning this trip by i20 active diesel.

Ease guide us on following aspects:
1. Day wise itinary from delhi to leh and back.
2. We want to cover all the important attractions. Kindly guide on that aspect.
3. Which kind of permit is required to pass rohtang la.
4. Is it necessary to book accomodation in advance durin visit or we can get it easily on reaching there.
5. Will our i20 active diesel be able to troll through.
6.What all important things we need to carry along.

For hatchback/sedan taking on Manali – Leh Highway and Ladakh, I will say:

You will indeed face few tough challenges on the route. The hatchback/sedan will increase the level of every challenge even further, sedan is the worst candidate. My suggestion will be to go via Srinagar route as it will help you feel comfortable with the driving, provide more acclimatization and then once you have done the local Leh-Ladakh, then come back via Manali side. Secondly, since you are in hatch/sedan, then you need to drive with extra care as well. There will be some sections on the Manali – Leh highway in which you might need to sacrifice some scratches on the underbelly. Just make sure you do not bump the engine sump (know it before where it is placed in your car). You need to protect it all around the trip. Thirdly, whenever in doubt do not rush into the section rather park aside and feel the section with your foot, see how other vehicles are crossing it and make a planned route in your mind to cross that section. At the very least do carry Mseal, quick fix, funnel, jerry cans and towing rope with you all the time.

Also, I will strongly suggest that you go through and read my series on Ladakh Self Drive tips at the links below:

Day 1 | Delhi – Manali/Solang Valley
— Better stay at Solang Valley and avoid Manali as sleeping at Solang Valley does help in acclimatization
— If going by own car, get the permit made in advance to drive on Manali – Rohtang Pass road through hotel/travel agent in Manali
— Overnight at Manali/Solang Valley

Day 2 | Manali/Solang Valley – Keylong/Jispa
— It is always better to stay either at Keylong/Jispa so that you do not feel sick or hit by AMS.
— Avoid sleeping at Sarchu at any cost while going to Leh from Manali because your body will not be acclimatized by the time you reach there.
— I prefer staying at Jispa more because Keylong gives the feeling of a town while Jispa is more closer to nature having Bhaga river running just aside the Manali – Leh Highway at Jispa.
— Overnight at Keylong/Jispa

Day 3 | Keylong/Jispa – Leh
— Leave Keylong/Jispa early next morning, say by 4/5 AM types, so that you reach Leh in the evening.
— Overnight at Leh

First I would like to thank you a lot for all you did and share on this website ! It really help me to plan my Bullet trip from Manali to Leh.

I would like you advice about my itinerary and maybe your recommandation for the place to stay to sleep on the way, if possible as cheap and confortable as possible. I already reed some recommandation for hotel or campsite but i lose this page, and I you have time I will enjoy you direct recommandation.
For information we a 2 persons on the Bullet 500.

I want to take at least 6 days to rich Leh from Manali (by Wari La and Kardhung La) by following this approx. itinerary :

Do you have any about current situation of Jammu Srinagar highway? Is it safe or we should change the route to manali leh instead of Srinagar leh?? How is the roads condition of manali leh route? We have plan of leaving from Delhi on 16th July.

I will suggest to have a word with some hotel guy in Srinagar and then take a call to go from Manali side. These things are dependent from person to person judgement call and what a person feels is OK to him or her given the circumstances. So, best is to talk to a local hotel guy in Srinagar and confirm about the ground situation in tourist places and Srinagar – Leh route. Having being stuck in riots/curfews myself at times, my personal suggestion will be to avoid unless unrest is over and take the Manali route.

I have read your whole article for Manali – leh road trip.. It was just awsem.. Am from Ahmedabad I’am tourism lover and i have completed my masters in tourism management and working with travel agency and dealing with domestic tours.. But for me travel in himalayas for a long is my lifetime dream especially manali-leh road trip by bike. My route is (all night stays) Delhi-Shimla-Manali-Solang Valley-Jispa-Sarchu-Pangong-Leh-Nubra–Leh. Now i have some questions related this. I hope u will give me answer for this.

1. I’am intrested for Solo trip on manali leh tour. Should i do this?
2. Is this route is safe like if i can carry cash, mobile, SLR??
3. I’ll be able to experience snow in between in June to September??
4. Is it ok if i dont do advance bookings for accommodation??
5. In bike 180 cc will work??
Should i combine manali-leh and leh-srinagar?
6. if iam travelling Solo with out any group (me & my bike) what problems could i face?

I have read your whole article for Manali – leh road trip.. It was just awsem.. Am from Ahmedabad I’am tourism lover and i have completed my masters in tourism management and working with travel agency and dealing with domestic tours.. But for me travel in himalayas for a long is my lifetime dream especially manali-leh road trip by bike. My route is (all night stays) Delhi-Shimla-Manali-Solang Valley-Jispa-Sarchu-Pangong-Leh-Nubra–Leh. Now i have some questions related this. I hope u will give me answer for this.
1. I’am intrested for Solo trip on manali leh tour. Should i do this?
2. Is this route is safe like if i can carry cash, mobile, SLR??
3. I’ll be able to experience snow in between in June to September??
4. Is it ok if i dont do advance bookings for accommodation??
5. In bike 180 cc will work??
Should i combine manali-leh and leh-srinagar?
6. if iam travelling Solo with out any group (me & my bike) what problems could i face?
I need your Reply Sir.
Thank You
(Dhaval Soni)

For the leh – ladakh taxi union rate list 2016 – 17 including the contacts of some reliable taxi drivers within Leh – Ladakh, check the link here. You can get about 12-15% of discount by directly getting in touch with drivers and of course, talking in person rather on phone always help in bargaining more.

I am a 62 year old retiree who started biking in 2008 after ages. I did a Leh trip in 2009 with 5 friends, which was a bit in haste. This year I am planning a 4 to 5 week solo ride from Bombay to Leh and back in leisure as time’s with me!

On a regular basis I ride solo to the South / Western region and to Sangla in 2013 to run the Himalayan Marathon (Full Marathon at 10k elevation)

My bike is a Machismo500 registered at Navi Mumbai in 20018 Aug, hope it will pass. I plan to cover the Bombay Chandigarh stretch in 3 days each way. So I am left 3 weeks for the ride. Will appreciate if you can suggest a good ride plan with an alternate to extension by 5 days..

I will suggest below one plan in which you can add buffer/rest days as and when needed when you are there:

Day 1 | Delhi – Jammu / Patnitop
— Overnight at Jammu or Patnitop

Day 2 | Jammu / Patnitop – Srinagar
— Enjoy walk around Dal lake and may be Shikara ride as well
— If you have time then check out, floating market, Shalimar Garden.
— Overnight at Srinagar

Day 3 | Srinagar – Zozi La – Drass – Kargil
— Enjoy the vistas enroute
— Have late drunch meal at Drass is you are a vegetarian as sometimes it gets difficult to find veg. food at Kargil
— Overnight at Kargil

Day 6 | Leh – Khardung La – Diskit – Hunder – Turtuk
— Head for Nubra Valley and stay overnight at Turtuk
— On the way enjoy a cup of soup at Highest Motorable Pass (as claimed) Khardung La
— enjoy the culture in the Turtuk Village
— do mention Turtuk on the permits

Day 9 | Sumur/Kyagar – Panamik – Sumur – Khardung La – Leh
— Sumur has a famous monastery to check out and Panamik has hot water springs
— Overnight at Leh

Day 10 | Rest day at Leh to enjoy local culture and some shopping OR Monastery tour
— Monastery tour may include Hemis, Thicksey, Stakna and Shey monasteries. They come on the route of Pangong Tso but as you will be doing day trip, it will be a bit hectic to include them on that day only.
— Overnight at Leh

Kindly advise if above plan is okay or any modifications are required.

Also we are planning to get a taxi from Delhi/ Chandigarh. While going through your other posts I got to know that outside taxis can not be used for Leh Sightseeing. So I believe that it can not be used for Day 4 and Day 5 for above plan but could there be issue with taxi from Day 6 onwards when we are leaving Leh for Pangong Tso and further.

You are doing too much in too little time on hand. It will be quite an hectic trip. It cannot be used for Day4, 5, 6, 7. You cannot visit Nubra, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri in outside rented taxis, each route has a taxi union barrier to check the pass.

hi,dheeraj
its very helpful to read you for the ladakh trip ..and you are doing best job in the world..hats off to you
i want to rent bike from chandigarh and my route is ..chandigarh–pathankot srinagar-kargil-leh-nubra-leh-pangong-tsomoriri sarchu manali -chandigarh..in 14 days..I am solo rider of age 36
my query is ..
1) Is it possible in 14 days?
2) rented bike in chandigarh can pass through srinagar? ,leh?,manali?
3) will I need any permits to cross any pass in this route such as rohatang ( I cross rohtang from leh to manali)?
4) will I need any other permits please mention…
5) accommodation in this route is easily available in june first week in 2016? or i have to booked it in advance .
6) what route you suggest in 14 days trip for solo rider to complete sight seenig and easy bike rental system that ..chandigarh-srinagar-leh – manali is better or manali-dharmashala-srinagar-leh-manali is better ?
kindly reply
awaiting for your suggestion
aatish

No permits required if you follow above route. You can check the nice, preferred list of accommodation options in entire Leh – Ladakh (Leh, Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri) including moderate (cheap budget hotels as well) in the series of articles starting on the link here

Bikes rented outside Leh are not allowed for sightseeing inside Ladakh except Tso Moriri and Tso Kar lakes which can be done while going to Manali from Leh. Private bikes are completely allowed. You can use the outside rented bike to reach Leh but then for going to Pangong Tso, nubra Valley, etc.. you need to hire rented bikes from Leh only.

This year as per reports, rule is going to be stricter. Manali rental guys have formalized a deal that for the days Manali bike is parked in Leh and Leh bike is rented, they will charge 50% of the rent of the bike. So, confirm with Manali rental guys first about this signoff.

The one way bike rental is quite costly and leave a big dent in pocket for you, sometimes like 12K for just the pickup from Manali. Be sure if you are ready to make that investment or not or if at all it is worth the money spent. My suggestion is unless you are hard core biker and cannot live up the passion of biking, it is not wise to spend that much money just for the pickup of bike.

I will suggest that you go through the articles mentioned under the DoW Community thread for bike trip to Ladakh or any other part of Himalayas at the link: All About Bike Ride to Ladakh & Himalayas. This will help you cover almost all your queries related to bike trip to Ladakh or Himalayas.

i intend to visit leh & kargil on bike in July 16, following the route delhi – chandigarh – manali – leh -kargil – srinagar – jammu – delhi. My co-traveller will ride on his own bike, and I will use my nephew’s Haryana registration bike ( my bike being 12 yrs. old, couldn’t obtain permit at Manali, last year ) Now I would like to know –
1. Are there any restrictions on travelling from leh to nubra and pangong on our bikes ?
2. Do I need to produce any additional document( e.g. affidavit of my nephew stating the evidence and purpose of handing over his bike to me ) for obtention of permit at Manali ?

1. If confronted then yes, you will not be allowed for sightseeing and wil be forced to hire/rent a bike from Leh. They have issued some union passes this year and guess the bikes might need to carry them. Still early season so details will unflod when Manali – Leh opens.
2. You can carry one for sure because that will really help.

Is it possible to cover from jammu via srinagar leh [hemis,nubra,pangyong lake,tso moriri]manali kaza nako shimla in a span of around 12-14 days ,, enjoying each place ,and the ride also….any possible itineraries friends??

well planning to visit ladakh soon,,however aftergoing through all the posts and seeing the itineraries given here for 9 days or even 14 days which say that to cover from point A to point B you should start really early morning and that journey would require approx 8-9 hours ,,i wonder how much would one be getting time to stop over and enjoy the beauty of the places in between with i,m sure so many beautiful scenes at every corner.and i think in this tour the places en route would be more enchanting and making you feel like stopping than your point A and point B..
i want to know from my friends who have been there if they could really stop over n spend some nice time en route and soak in the beauty of the places or was it just that enjoy running ur eyes here n there without stopping much in between[as much as ur heart wanted to] so that you reach ur destination from where u have started since each point is far from the other point,,like e.g srinagar to kargil and kargil to leh is like 200km, and that too mountains,a tedious bike journey

Yogesh, the above times does include sightseeing on the way as well. You can consider about couple of hrs of photo breaks each day. It is best to do it at ease but all depends upon how much time you have in hand. If couple of hrs of sightseeing is not enough for you then consider increasing the days.

I am planning Self riding bike trip to leh in june. We will be starting from jammu and finishing in Chandigarh covering the whole circuit. I have couple of queries:

1. Which back up vehicle should we use eg. Some pick up vehicle or SUV like Innova. Also as SUV’s from from outside are baned in LADAKH as I got information from your blogs. What about pick ups, are they also banned or we can rent a pick up along a driver from jammu. And if you have some contact of Pick up vehicle person do tell.

2. Some of my friend will be bringing bikes which are of third person. So, wanted to ask that if some one is riding on a bike which is third person bike is it allowed.
Hoping for a positive reply.

i got a similar plan pal ,but from august end onwards… all the best.. which bike u got…i plan to use my discover 150cc..lol ,since always seeing and reading bullets all over ladakh trips…giving a feel that any other bike has nothing to do in here..hehehe

Hey I am from Maharashtra and planning to for Leh -Ladakh Bike ride with 6 of my friends in first week of June.
I wanted to know if bikes with HP passing are allowed these days in Leh(We are planning to bring our own but in case if we couldn’t). I read on your blog that they are not allowed these days in Leh.
I am planning to start ride from Shrinagar and end at Manali so what are the chances that Rohtang La and Khardung La be open by May end?
Also can you help us planning our Itinerary and contacts for Stay.
Our Itinerary goes like this
Day 1- Arrive at Srinagar
Day 2- Srinagar -Sonamarg -Zozi La -Drass -Kargil
Day 3- Kargil- Lamayuru – Leh
Day 4- Stay at Leh and Local sightseeing
Day 5- Leh – Khardung La – Nubra Valley – Diskit – Hunder
Day 6- Back to Leh from Hunder and Overnight at Leh
Day 7- Leh – Hemis Monastery – Pangong Tso Lake
Overnight at Pangong Tso
Day 8- Pangong Tso Lake – Thicksey Monastery – Shey Palace – Leh
Overnight at Leh
Day 9- Leh – Tso Moriri via Chumathang
Overnight Tso Moriri
Day 10- Tso Moriri – Leh
Overnight at Leh
Day 11- Leh to Manali
or perhaps you could suggest good Itinerary so that we can have most of Leh-Ladakh

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